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Chidambaram inaugurates Chennai's NSG hub

PTI | Updated: Jul 1, 2009, 10:38 IST

CHENNAI: Special forces of the army will be used to set up anti-terror hubs in Bangalore and Jodhpur, home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said. (Watch)Inaugurating the second National Security Guard hub here, he said setting up of NSG units did not mean there was an increase in terror threat to the country."We are also using special forces of the army. Bangalore hub is by the special forces of the army. I am trying to set up a special forces of the army in Jodhpur and one in Guwahati using the Border security force", he said."Establishing NSG hubs will increase its flexibility and reach and it does not mean that terrorist threat has gone up in the country", he told reporters here.Asked whether there would be more NSG hubs, he said the four metros of Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata are covered in the first phase.Referring to the November Mumbai terror attacks during which it took more than 12 hours for NSG to arrive from Gurgaon, he said NSG hubs would decrease the response time and would enable it to reach any part of the country quickly in case of any terror threat.Chennai NSG hub is the second to be inaugurated after the one in Mumbai yesterday, six months after the terror strike in the country's commercial capital.The NSG hubs in Hyderabad and Kolkata are also slated to be made operational, meeting the July one deadline for setting up four NSG units.Maintaining that security of people was the foremost concern of any government, Chidambaram said "our government with the aid of the state government is totally committed to providing security to the people"."Our first objective is to raise the level of preparedness to meet any terror threat and the second one is to respond decisively in case of terror threat or any terror attack", he said.Chidambaram said the Chennai hub would serve not only the city but entire Tamil Nadu and other areas so that the commandos could be rushed in case of any terrorist attack or any other emergency.The Chennai hub is built on a 85-acre plot in Nedunkundram in Kanchipuram district, a 12-minute drive from the airport here, with pre-fabricated and permanent structures constructed by the National Building Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) to station the NSG commandos."I am grateful to the state government for providing 85 acres of land," he said, adding, the full-fledged NSG campus would be ready by the end of November.Chidambaram also said the NSG hub would impart training to the state police and the level of training would be on par with that given to NSG cadres.

He said each NSG regional hub comprises 241 commandos. Asked about the investigations of BBC into the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, he said the matter was sub-judice.The BBC investigative report had claimed that Pakistan-based terrorist leaders who conveyed precise police positions to the 26/11 attackers may have been guided by LeT spotters on the ground in Mumbai rather than by live television coverage.